1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to product information and more particularly to systems and methods which address the problem of obtaining advice, support and information about a product in a retail store during shopping as well as over the life of the product after the product is purchased.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a retail store environment, there are several challenges faced by shoppers and retailers. Shoppers often find it difficult to get the information they need about a product in the store. Customers today expect access to peer reviews and social content around products, as well as recommendations, and retailer and supplier-generated content. This may include information about how popular the product is, how other consumers are rating/reviewing the product, how experts have reviewed the product, how accurate information on features, functions, accessories, related products, etc. Retailers are often challenged in providing this information to customers.
In-store support personnel (salespeople, advisors, etc.) are expensive and retailers are increasingly unable to provide sufficient personal support to shoppers. Retail suffers generally 100% labor turnover and so continually educating resources on fast changing product lines is expensive and difficult. This coupled with cost cutting measures in training programs—have left store associates less knowledgeable than peer networks in the mind of the customer. Informational product displays are a lower-cost alternative; however, paper displays are limited by the effort needed to keep them up-to-date, their relatively low information value, and, from a merchandising perspective, the fact that they are usually unattractive.
Interactive electronic displays are also being used, but are available only in particular areas of the store due to space constraints. The shopper is not able to get the information they need at the desired moment at any and every product in the store.
Reviews and ratings of products are available on the World Wide Web today, but this information is not readily accessible by the shoppers in retail stores. People may look to cell phones to make calls to other people to obtain information about a product, e.g., from web reviews, etc. Others access some of this information from their web-enabled hand-held devices. However, there are several drawbacks here. The shopper may find useful reviews on a competitor's site, which is potentially disastrous for the current purchase or future ones. Also, the product under consideration in the store may not be available online, or may be hard to find online. Moreover, web searching and browsing for additional information occurs through interfaces which are not necessarily under the store's control, and are disruptive to a well-designed and consistently-branded shopping experience.
Shoppers are not able to provide their own ratings and reviews on products during the course of their in-store shopping experience. It is extremely expensive for brick-and-mortar retailers to generate an amount of interest and traffic data at a product level that online retailers collect for free.
Customers want personalized in-store experiences that are about them and about the products that they are interested in. Also, customers do not just buy products based on product attributes, but are more and more focused on the lifestyle qualities of products that they purchase or intend to purchase. They want to understand how a product fits into their life. This requires very personalized, contextual selling capabilities.
Retailers are looking to better attract shoppers to their store with a more compelling experience. They are challenged with providing the shoppers the information and advice they need in the store in a manner that is both effective and entertaining.
Over the life of a product, there are several challenges faced by consumers and retailers/manufacturers of a product. Some of the challenges include the following. Consumers need information about a product after it has been purchased, e.g., the latest updates on the product, warranty information, technical support, accessories and upgrades, replacement alternatives, feedback from others about the product and related products, product recall information, how popular the product is, how others are rating this product, more information on features and functions, and finally what to do when it is time to replace the product. Today, they have to call product support numbers (finding the right number to call is itself a challenge) and often wait for many minutes or hours to get a customer service representative who may or may not provide the right information. Consumers are also searching for information on the web such as reviews and answers from other people, but this information is often divorced from the information provided by the retailer/manufacturer, and the burden is on the consumer to find and correlate these various sources of information.
On the other hand, retailers/manufacturers are trying to engage consumers of their products with a variety of additional information such as warranties, upgrades, accessories, related products, etc. The retailers/manufacturers are trying to convey this information to the consumer via pamphlets sent over mail, by sending email messages, making phone calls, etc. However, these are often considered “spam” by consumers and are discarded most of the time while typically not being available to them when they really need them.
Consumers are also not empowered to provide their ratings, feedback, and issues about a product from the product itself. Thus, retailers/manufacturers are getting a limited number of reviews, ratings and issues regarding their products over the life of the products.